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I know this issue has come up a few times in these threads but I wanted to post my personal experience with creatine. I own a sports nutrition store called Peak Nutrition, it is similar to a GNC. I have tested many supplements over the years and I am very dedicated to fitness and lifting. Two of the main product lines that I have had problems with have been testerone boosters (not steroids, I have never and will never take them) and creatine. Anything that has claimed to boost testerone i.e. IDS Mass Tabs, Ripped tabs etc have caused me to shed dramatically. Of course one I noticed this I immediately discontinued use. Although my bench press went from 305 to 355 in 60 days, the hairloss overshadowed the strength increase. I was shedding very quickly. I would stay away from these products if you are concerned about hair loss. Creatine has also been a problem for me. I monitor my hair "situation" very closely and recently I have had some shedding due to what I believe was due to my use of creatine. I was using a product made by muscletech called Cell Mass and I definately began to shed. I would run my fingers through my hair and could definately see hair coming out. I discontinued using the product about 2 weeks ago and my hair has re-stabalized. I am not shedding at all. I know that there is no scientific data supporting creatine and hair loss but I just wanted to share my personal experince with hair loss and these products.

Interesting post Clint. My hair has been thinning or shedding (not sure) for the past 6 months or so. I tried a t booster for 3 weeks but stopped because it started to give me anxiety at night (6 months ago). Have been on creatine for 3 months. Not sure if propecia is loosing its effectiveness with me or it was the supps or not. What I do know is I can now see into my hairline and see those nasty 3 and 4 hair grafts I got done in the 90's. My hair thickness has not changed IMO since my last HT at Shapiro in 03 until now. I have been very satisfied until recently. It this continues and my hairline gets more and more pluggy I will prolly have to get some repair work done if thats even an option. I have 0 donor hair left unfortinatly.

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Experience:
6 HT to date.......wish this forum was around in the 90's!

Giants,
I am interested to have you elaborate on this subject. Is this your opinion or do you have some sort of data to substantiate your claim? I do not mean that as an "in your face" comment. I am genuinely interested because I would love nothing more than to use creatine with no side effects of hair loss or shedding. My experience was with a product called cell-tech.

In researching the internet, there are some who believe creatine can cause hair loss and those that do not. In my opinion, creatine does not cause hair loss.

In order to understand my thinking, you must first understand how creatine and hair loss works.

Creatine is a natural substances produced at a rate of 2 grahams daily in the liver and kidneys. Most of the body's naturally produced creatine travels to the muscles, heart, and other body cells. The majority of is stored in skeletal muscle.

Creatine consumed travels to the muscles and turns into creatine phosphate. Creatine phosphate delivers very short term energy that enables you to intensify your strength training or other activities that require short and fast bursts of energy. It does this by replenishing ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) reserves which is the molecular fuel that provides power for muscle contractions.

Your body relies on ATP (rather than glucose) to perform any activity that involves short term bursts of energy such as weight lifting. Creatine phosphate is much more quickly converted to ATP (a fraction of a second) than glucose (20+ seconds).

In a nutshell, supplementing with creatine creates an abundant supply of energy quickly which enables you to intensify your workouts to build more muscle. More energy = more power = more sets/reps = more muscle.

In my research, I haven't read anything that indicates that increased production of Creatine Phosphate or ATP causes hair loss. I would think that you are most likely experiencing early onset of male pattern baldness and the fact that you were taking Creatine at the time it started, is pure coincidence. As male pattern baldness progresses, hair loss continues. Hair follicles are damaged and grow a thinner, finer, shorter, and lighter colored hair. Eventually, the follicle will no longer produce hair that grows through the scalp. The blond hairs growing in the hairline may evidence that your hair is miniaturizing.